Martial World (Web Novel)

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Lin Ming needed to understand this strange Giant Demon World as soon as possible and learn of its general situation. He needed to know the distributions of powers, how many masters there were and how powerful they were, and all sorts of other things in order to prevent himself from wading into trouble. The more confused he was, the more danger he would be in.

“Outsiders don’t often come. It’s just that your clothes don’t resemble those of someone from Bewitching Cloud Prairie. In this prairie, humans aren’t allowed to put on colored clothes; they can only wear gray clothes. Otherwise, the will be punished. This is the only reason that I said you were an outsider. Did you lose your way within the Bewitching Cloud Prairie?”

Lin Ming took this opportunity and nodded, “Yes, I indeed came from the outside. Uncle, how big is this Bewitching Cloud Prairie? What sort of forces are here?”

“Bewitching Cloud Prairie…” The old man flicked away his smoke ashes and said, “Bewitching Cloud Prairie is a very vast and broad land. There are hundreds upon thousands of large and small Giant Demon tribes that exist here, and there is also a small number of human tribes…”

“Human tribes?” Lin Ming was stunned, “Humans can also establish tribes here?”

“Mm… yes, there are also strong humans. In this Bewitching Cloud Prairie, strength is power, and strength is respect. As long as one is strong and has some heritage, they can gather a group of martial artists together. They can cultivate, develop, grow, strengthen, and bring in mortal people in order to develop even more… Like this, a tribe would be formed.”

Lin Min nodded. It seemed that this Giant Demon World was even more chaotic than the Sky Spill Continent. He didn’t need to ask to imagine that these tribes competed for resources. There was territory, true essences mines, and other things. Great slaughters must also be inevitable. If a tribe was exterminated, it was probably a casual or even overnight affair.

As Lin Ming thought about this, he asked, “Uncle, have you heard about the Sky Spill Continent?”

“Sky Spill Continent?” The old man was surprised, “I don’t know what the Sky Spill Continent you are talking about is, but this mainland is called the Holy Demon Continent. The Bewitching Cloud Prairie is also just a small part of the Holy Demon Continent.”

So that’s how it was…

Although he had been partially expecting this, Lin Ming was still secretly startled to hear the old man talk about this. The Sky Spill Continent was also very broad, and the South Horizon Region was just a tiny corner of that landmass. But up until now, Lin Ming had never left the South Horizon Region.

And currently, it seemed as if this Holy Demon Continent wasn’t any smaller than the Sky Spill Continent.

“Uncle, I was wondering, in this Bewitching Cloud Prairie, who is the strongest Giant Demon leader?”

“Strongest… this old man isn’t too clear. But, I know that there are some large tribes in this Bewitching Cloud that might have a Demon King powerhouse. The largest tribes might have a two-star Demon King, or even a three-star Demon King.”

Lin Min was a bit confused, “What human realm does a three-star Demon King correspond to? Xiantian? Revolving Core?”

The old man looked at Lin Ming with surprise; obviously, he thought it was strange that Lin Ming didn’t seem to know anything. But he still gave a detailed explanation, “The Giant Demon Race practices a cultivation method that is different from us humans. We cultivate the dantian, and they cultivate their body and demon crystal. Those that start off in the Body Transformation realm are called Demon Soldiers. Those that have condensed their demon crystal are called Demon Generals. Once they have reached Large Success of their demon crystal, they are called Demon Kings. And above Demon Kings, there are Demon Emperors, but those existences are legends.”

“Demon Soldiers, Demon Kings, and Demon Generals are all divided into six ranks. If you want to know what human realm a Demon General or Demon King corresponds too, then that is too difficult. That is because within the Giant Demon Race, their talent, body, and overall fighting strength are higher than a human’s. A Demon King level powerhouse might be equal to a human Revolving Core powerhouse in terms of relative status within their tribes, but a Demon King powerhouse will always look down on a human Revolving Core powerhouse.”

The old man gave a great deal of information. Lin Ming was able to quickly estimate what the cultivation divisions were within the Giant Demon Race.

The one to six stars of a Demon Soldier were likely equal to the six stages of a human’s bodily transformation period.

A one to six star Demon General was probably equal to humans’ Houtian and Xiantian realms.

And a one to six star Demon King was probably equal to humans’ Revolving Core martial artists.

As for Demon Emperors, they were equal to the Divine Sea realm.

Of course, this was only a rough estimation. The cultivation methods of the Giant Demon Race were completely different from those of humans; Giant Demons had stronger bodies than humans did. Lin Ming only made this estimation in order to come to a better understanding of the situation.

“It looks like the Giant Demon Race’s cultivation method isn’t the same as the Body Transformation system from the Realm of the Gods. There really are countless roads to take in the path of martial arts. I wonder just how strong I would be in my most complete state?”

After Lin Ming had broken through to the Xiantian realm and had simultaneously completed 100% Tempering Marrow, he only had a vague understanding of his own strength. He was able to kill Lei Jingtian under the suppression of the broken world’s laws. If so, then his strength might be at the most early of the middle Revolving Core realm powerhouses. He might even be a bit stronger than Mu Qianyu, but not by too much.

Lin Ming asked, “Uncle, what realm is that Giant Demon Mo Da at?”

The old man quickly paled at this question. He quickly whispered, “Young man, don’t speak so rashly. Mo Da has many ears here. In this Bewitching Cloud Prairie, a slave cannot call their master directly by the name. They must refer to them as Lord or Master, otherwise their tongue will be cut off!”

Tongue will be cut off… Lin Ming frowned. It seemed that this Bewitching Cloud Prairie had extremely strict hierarchical rules.

The old man didn’t seem to know how to use true essence sound transmissions. He put away his smoking pipe and in a hushed whisper said, “Lord Mo Da is a five-star Demon General; a human Xiantian master will not be Lord Mo Da’s match.”

A five-star Demon General, up the point of the Demon King realm, should be equal to the middle and late Xiantian realm. But, this old man actually said that a human Xiantian martial artist was no match for Mo Da…

Lin Ming casually smiled. This Giant Demon race might be naturally stronger than humans, but it was also probably because the humans within the Bewitching Cloud Prairie were just too weak.

If it were a Xiantian martial artist like Mu Qianyu or Mu Bingyun, then 10 Mo Das would just be serving up food.

Lin Ming chatted with the old man, and finally came to a basic understanding of Bewitching Cloud Prairie. As the old man just had a cultivation of the Altering Muscle stage, he didn’t know too much about what was happening outside of the Bewitching Cloud Prairie. Like this, they spoke until the sun set, before finally reaching their destination. This Silent Green Tribe that they came to was just a medium sized tribe within the Bewitching Cloud Prairie.

Within the Silent Green Tribe, there was not a single stone building. Instead, it was almost completely tents. These tents were much larger than the ones Lin Ming had seen before. There were even some tents that were 200 feet high and looked more like palaces.

The entire tribe was colored in a dark gray style. Matched with the broad sunset of the vast grasslands behind it, it gave off a very heavy and solemn feeling.

The Silent Green Tribe did not have and walls. Outside of the massive gathering of tents, there was only a fence of logs that circled around them. This fence was over a 100 feet high, and the tips were sheared into sharp points. They were like sharp swords that stabbed into the sky, hideous and fierce.

Walking into the tribe, one could see 10 foot high Giant Demons everywhere. They were all bare-chested, and their skin was the color of dark metal. Lin Ming wasn’t short himself, but compared to these Giant Demons, he only barely reached their shoulders.

When these Giant Demons saw Lin Ming and the other humans, they either ignored them or glanced at them dismissively. Giant Demons were arrogant and believed in the superiority of their race. To them, ‘human’ was the same word for small and weak slaves.

Within the Silent Green Tribe, there were at least twice as many humans than there were Giant Demons. Most of the humans here had the status of slaves, but there were a small portion that had the status of being a ‘commoner’. However, although they were called a commoner, their status wasn’t much higher than a slave. Every year they would have to perform a large number of services in exchange for meager rations, all in order to barely maintain their lives.

Whether it was a commoner or a slave, everyone had a identification plate. A commoner’s identification plate had their name written down. As for a slave, they had their number and owner’s name written down. Giant Demons would often refer to their slaves by these numbers.

After Mo Da entered the city, he simply didn’t bother with Lin Ming. Compared to a five-star Demon General that a human Xiantian master could not even match up with, a Houtian martial artist with a shaky foundation like Lin Ming had no need for his concern.

Mo Da had a servant bring Lin Ming to a slave registration hall, and then went off into the tribe to enjoy himself.

Lin Ming was brought to the Giant Demon Race’s human affairs hall. There, he was assigned a place, an identification plate, as well as his division of labor.

The Giant Demons that managed the human affairs hall were slightly shorter than most other Giant Demons. The one in front of him was only nine feet tall. On this Giant Demon’s face, there was a very vicious looking scar.

Lin Ming indifferently glanced at him. After a long time, he still wasn’t able to accurately determine just what this Giant Demon’s cultivation was. But, he could estimate that with his aura, this scar-faced Giant Demon was most likely a three-star Demon General. That would mean he was equal to a human Houtian realm martial artist.

The scar-faced Giant Demon lazily looked at Lin Ming. He impatiently said, “Cultivation? Age?”

“Early Houtian realm cultivation. 23 years old.” Lin Ming calmly replied, his tone even.

At this moment, Lin Ming’s dantian was in a mess and very cloudy. Many of his meridians were also blocked. He looked no different from a common Houtian realm martial artist. Let alone this scar-faced Giant Demon, even if Lei Jingtian were to stand in front of him, he probably would not be able to sense Lin Ming’s true cultivation.

As for lying about his age, that shouldn’t arouse any suspicions. It was just too shocking for a human martial artist to appear that had reached the Houtian realm before he was 18.

The scar-faced Giant Demon sized up Lin Ming, looking him over from head to toe. He noticed all of the blocked meridians that Lin Ming had, and revealed a disdainful expression. This sort of martial artist with an unstable foundation would not have any future. In their lifetime, they would at most be able to reach the late Houtian realm.

This scar-faced Giant Demon was himself a two-star Demon General. Because the Giant Demon Race had an advantage in talent over humans, this scar-faced demon wouldn’t even place a human Houtian martial artist at the same realm in his eyes, much less this shaky early Houtian realm Lin Ming.

“Who is your master?” The scar-faced Giant Demon slowly asked as he made a few strokes on his paper.

Hearing the term ‘master’, Lin Ming slightly frowned. But, he held it down and replied, “Mo Da.”

Now that his situation was extremely bad, it would be hopeless if he tried to start conflict with the Silent Green Tribe.

“F*ck!” The scar-faced Giant Demon pounded the table, “Know the rules! Your master’s name is not something a worthless slave like you can call out! Every slave that refers to their master by name must have their tongue ripped out. Seeing as you have just entered the Silent Green Tribe, I will be lenient to you. Slap yourself 50 times!”